Only in America

Walter E. Williams, Ph.D., is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. He holds a Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Union University and Grove City College, Doctor of Laws from Washington and Jefferson College and Doctor Honoris Causa en Ciencias Sociales from Universidad Francisco Marroquin, in Guatemala, where he is also Professor Honorario.

Let’s talk about the rich – those people who, according to former Congressman Richard Gephardt, are “winners in life’s lottery.” Or the people whom director Michael Moore preaches, in his book “Dude, Where’s my Country?” got rich off the backs of the poor.

Farrah Gray was raised in a predominantly black Chicago neighborhood. At age 8, he started a lemonade stand business, later a venture capital business, a food business and a magazine. By age 17, Farrah Gray was a millionaire, had been chief executive of four companies, and had offices on Wall Street, and in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

While becoming a millionaire by age 17 is rare, eventually becoming a millionaire isn’t. According to TNS Financial Services’ 2004 Affluent Market Research survey, there are an estimated 8.2 million American households with assets, excluding primary residences, worth over $1 million. That’s a 33 percent increase over the 6.2 million millionaire households in 2003.

Who are these people portrayed either as winners in life’s lottery or who got rich by exploiting the poor? One thing for sure is that they’re not the sons and daughters of the Rockefellers, the Kennedys or the Vanderbilts. According to Drs. Thomas Stanley and William Danko’s research published in their book “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy,” 80 percent of today’s American millionaires are first-generation rich.

Drs. Stanley and Danko listed other characteristics of these 8.2 million millionaire households. Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth. More than half never received as much as a dollar in inheritance. Fewer than 25 percent received “an act of kindness” from a relative greater than $10,000, and 91 percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 from the ownership of a family business.

Being first-generation rich is not new for Americans. Drs. Stanley and Danko say, “More than 100 years ago the same was true. In The American Economy, Stanley Lebergott reviews a study conducted in 1892 of the 4,047 American millionaires. He reports that 84 percent were nouveau riche, having reached the top without the benefit of inherited wealth.”

This points to one of the most unique features of our nation. Just because you know where a person ended up in life is no guarantee that you can tell where he started. In other words, there is so much economic mobility in our society that starting out with modest means or even being dirt poor does not prevent one from ending up at the top.

According to IRS tax data, 85.8 percent of tax filers in the bottom fifth in 1979 had moved on to a higher quintile, and often to the top quintile, by 1988.

Here’s my question for you: What are we to make of people who preach pessimism and doom to people – telling them that they’re poor because others are rich or telling blacks that they’ll never make it because of societal racism? What are we to make of politicians, media pundits and college professors who preach the politics of envy – telling people lies that the rich became rich off the backs of the poor? I grew up poor in a housing project in North Philadelphia, and those weren’t the lessons prevalent a half-century ago. My mother used to preach that “We have a beer pocketbook but champagne tastes.” And my stepfather used to admonish, “If you want to make it in this world, you have to come early and stay late.” Those messages are far more beneficial to a poor person than those of victimhood and pity. Personally, I like evangelical minister Reverend Ike’s response when asked what should we do about the poor. He said, “The best thing you can do for the poor is not become one.”